Tuesday, February 28, 2012

The Huffington Post published an article that, if factual, provides a scathing indictment of some members of the top "1%". Allegedly, a petty banker stiffed a waitress for a $135 meal, leaving a 1% tip of $1.33 with a circle around the printed word "tip" and an arrow pointing to "Get a real job." Supposedly, the photo of the receipt was taken by the banker's employee and posted on his blog, Future Ex Banker.

The restaurant claims that they found their copy of the receipt and that the receipt (or photo) had been altered. In the meantime, the blog has since mysteriously disappeared from Wordpress. The Smoking Gun published an article with more information about the purported hoax.

So, what do you guys think? Was this real or was it a hoax? Was it Photoshopped? Is the restaurant covering up this incident to please its wealthy clientele? Could the supposed banker have threatened Wordpress and the restaurant? Why would a well-paid employee be so stupid as to publicize his boss's embarrassing indiscretion knowing that it would probably result in an immediate termination if it were traced back to him? If it were all a hoax, then someone took quite a risk knowing that the photo and blog post could be traced back to him. (Somebody paid for that receipt with a credit card). Maybe he found a discarded receipt and altered it.

I'd like to believe that it's real since it would reinforce my belief that many members of the wealthy elite are arrogant, vicious, and out-of-touch with the lower classes. I don't know if it's real or not, but the story certainly isn't unbelievable and it's rather delicious. It would be great if we could hear from the waitress, but I'm sure she won't be talking, at least not until she finds another job.

Addendum: Here is a link to a news report video where you can see the restaurant's manager discussing the incident. She seems pretty credible to me and upon taking a closer look at the photo, it does indeed appear as though the "1" is out of alignment. According to her someone Photoshopped a "1" in front of the 33.54 on the bill and the server actually received a 20% tip.

Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.

1 comments:

A waitress received a 1% tip from a wealthy banker, in the amount of $1.33 for a $135 lunch bill. The banker also wrote "Get a real job" on the receipt. One of the banker's employees took a photo of the receipt and posted it online.

Someone found the banker's ID and bludgeoned him with a baseball bat. He survived the attack, with relatively minimal damage. Is the banker's employee also criminally liable for these actions? If so, what charges could he face, under the Model Penal Code? (It later turned out that the story was false, and the receipt was photo-shopped.)"